The world around us is becoming digital, which brings new challenges: from the skills and knowledge needed to successfully adapt to the IT industry to management and development strategies in a highly competitive environment. Sergey Artemov (eXpress Development Director) and Lidiya Pozdnyakova (eXpress HR Director) spoke to the online publication IT-world.ru about how modern IT professionals and organizations are adapting to these changes.
Today, managers are required to be flexible and able to analyze the current state of affairs and define future goals. Digital transformation aims to improve the efficiency of business processes at all levels of the organization through the implementation of innovative approaches and technologies. Amid a talent shortage, HR departments are faced with the need to use unconventional methods to find specialists, such as neural networks for generating search queries and advertising job openings.
To attract the best candidates, new recruiting methods are being used, such as one-day offers and hackathons. Companies are creating internal knowledge bases and building tracks that allow employees to change their specialization and develop horizontally. Employees who are knowledgeable about the product and form the core of the team are invaluable to the company. Collaborating with universities and creating specialized courses and departments also contribute to the development of qualified specialists, strengthening the company's competitiveness in the HR market. Contributing to open source projects is another way companies can promote digital transformation, according to Lidiya Pozdnyakova.
According to Sergey Artemov, in the context of digital transformation, a company's IT manager must have a specialized education in information technology and mathematics. This education not only develops basic logic and mathematical skills but also teaches IT systematization and planning, which is critical for translating theoretical knowledge into practical IT applications.
The demand for cybersecurity professionals is also growing. These specialists, including programmers, must have a deep understanding of threat models for infrastructure and methods of protecting against them. And if a CIO also has an education in information security or experience working in cybersecurity companies, this will be most effective in promoting digitalization.
Changes in the labor market are shifting the qualifications of IT specialists. There is a growing need for more advanced specialists who have evolved from programmers and possess a comprehensive understanding of code, hardware, and complex information systems. These specialists see the big picture and can make decisions proportionate to the scale of the product or technology being implemented.
IT within a company should function like a guided missile, where each team member clearly understands their role, performs their tasks at a high level, and understands the overall direction and goals of the project. This ensures the synchronization and efficiency of the entire mechanism. Therefore, continuous training and investment in personnel development are crucial. The IT industry is developing at breakneck speed, especially in Russia, where the sector is striving to catch up and achieve leadership. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to move twice as fast, making investment in training and professional development of key specialists critical.
Regarding the impact of AI on work processes, according to Lidiya Pozdnyakova, technical innovations primarily affect internal business processes. Neural networks also contribute to the development of corporate culture and gamification, allowing employees to create programs for various internal corporate activities. However, it's important to remember that automation always relies on humans and their face-to-face interaction, which cannot be completely replaced by neural networks.
Sergey Artemov believes that key employees should not be completely replaced by automation. Automation can handle routine tasks, freeing people from them. In many cases, automating processes that a machine can perform more efficiently is preferable. However, human potential remains critically important in the digital world and will remain so in the long term.
The full text of the publication can be found in IT-Manager magazine
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